Augury
by Hoo-ah
Summary: A response to Tikatu's challenge. Tin-Tin encounters a number of surprises, not necessarily welcomed on her behalf.


**AUTHOR'S NOTES:** In response to Tikatu's challenge on fanfics(dot)org. I don't have an account there, (and this account is more important to me anyway :P), so I thought I'd post here instead.

**AUGURY**

There was something wrong. Well, not entirely wrong, more like... different.

Tin-Tin lay on her side, eyes closed, sinking into the soft mattress of her bed. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, but there was just something lurking about that bothered her. She refused to open her eyes until she had pinpointed the strange feeling that crept beneath her skin (that, and the fact that her blanket was far too inviting for her to leave.) Though she clearly remembered retiring to her chamber at an early hour, she felt like she had only slept for mere minutes.

Curiosity got the best of her, and she began to run through a mental checklist. The annoying squawking of the tropical birds were not yet audible, so it must have been painfully early morning before the birds arose. The morning chill in the air confirmed this, as Tin-Tin had always insisted on leaving a window open while she slept for fresh air. Giving into temptation, the young lady opened her eyes a peek, to find the same 4 walls she had slept between for practically her whole life, still surrounding her protectively.

Nothing was different, but yet, that strange feeling remained. Yawning as she stretched her arms out of the blanket, Tin-Tin grumbled in frustration as she sat up slowly, but that was when the problem revealed itself. Her hand drifted to her stomach, to find that she had been hugging a beach ball when she slept. Blinking as her vision finally adjusted itself, she was shocked to find that it wasn't a beach ball in her bed; it was her own stomach. Her eyes opened as wide as saucers as she stared at her immense belly. "I know I've been letting myself go lately with Ms. Tracy's cookies... but this is ridiculous!" she exclaimed to no one in particular.

She blinked again, hoping that it was merely her eyes playing tricks. It was, after all, far too early in the morning for things to make sense. Unfortunately, no matter how many times Tin-Tin rubbed her eyes, nothing changed at all. The young lady managed to swallow a high-pitched shriek forming at the back of her throat before it escaped. There had to be an explanation for this. A joke. Or a biological cause. Too much gas?

Frowning at the thought of the latter, she finally tore her eyes away from her stomach, most unfortunately to find that she was better off still pondering the reasons behind the sudden inflation. And, much to her great surprise, there it was: a crib sitting in the corner of her room comfortably, as if it had always been there. A cute animal mobile dangled overhead, swaying eerily in the slight breeze.

Her previous dilemma was temporary forgotten as Tin-Tin tried, with no avail, to grasp exactly what was going on. She was far too confused with the attempt to figure out how anyone could have moved an entire baby's crib into her room without her acknowledgement while she slept. She had always been a light sleeper; she would be awoken with not so much as a sneeze from the opposite side of the giant Tracy residence.

Once she found the strength to stand, Tin-Tin crept over to the crib with the greatest caution and puzzlement. Placing her hands on the side of the crib, she slowly peered over, knowing clearly that she wouldn't like what she would find. Sure enough, two equally big and brown eyes of a pudgy baby stared back at her. Tin-Tin didn't know what to say, or what to do. None of this made any sense.

There was a baby in her room.

There was. A baby. In her room.

A baby.

Sure enough, Tin-Tin rolled her eyes backwards, placing the back of her hand on her forehead, and toppled over.

* * *

"Will she be okay?"  
  
"She'll be fine. Nothing Grandma's soup can't fix."

"She looks pale."

"She has a naturally fair complexion."

"Pale and fair are two different things, dolt."

"Stop worrying, Alan. You're acting like she spontaneously combusted instead of fainted."

"You're not helping."

"Neither are you. You're getting grey hairs from all that unnecessary stress, gramps."

Tin-Tin was completely relieved to hear familiar voices. Opening her eyes a tiny bit to see Alan gazing over her, she relaxed and let out a deep sigh. "Oh, Alan," she breathed, reaching out to take his hand into hers. "What happened?"

He smiled at her softly. "Grandma seems to think you've been working too hard lately."

"Me? Oh, that's impossible," she gave a small laugh as she glanced around the room, slightly surprised to see that pretty much everyone had gathered to the living room to see how she fared. "I hardly do anything around here. I just help Brains out when he forgets to add a number here or there."

Scott spoke out shortly after, taking a step forward. "Well you gave us a big scare, Tin-Tin. It's not healthy to just fall over."

Tin-Tin's eyes followed Alan's hand as he placed it on her stomach, and she dropped her jaw once again when she saw (or didn't see) what was before her. "Yeah," Alan added casually. "Especially when Johnson's due date is nearing."

She looked straight past her swollen belly in disbelief, completely disregarding the previous statement. "Alan, I can't see my feet. Or anything past my tummy, at that."

A few of the audience exchanged curious glances after hearing the unexpected reply. Scott slowly approached her as she lay on the couch, still staring at her stomach with the oddest expression. Placing a hand on her forehead, he scrunched his face in confusion and returned his attention to Alan. "Well, she _seems_ alright..."

"Maybe she hit her head on something as she fell," Gordon piped in.

Virgil furrowed his brow, scratching his chin as he spoke, "or maybe it's a girl thing."

"I don't know what kind of girls you meet, Virge, but--"

"I'm still in the room, guys," Tin-Tin spat as she sat back up, her hand still gripping tightly onto Alan's. "Will someone please tell me what's going on?" she cried, her eyes challenging each and every one of them in the room. Alan cringed at the pain he felt as her sharp fingernails dug into his flesh.

Scott opened his mouth to speak, but Tin-Tin once again found herself distracted by something foreign in her presence. However, this time, it wasn't an inanimate object, like the crib she had previously discovered. Three tiny heads, two blonde and one brown, peeked out curiously from behind the doorframe into the living room, eyeing the sight inquisitively. Her gaze met with that of the smallest child that peered cautiously into the room.

"W-Who are they?" she whispered, interrupting Scott abruptly.

By this time, Alan managed to release his hands from Tin-Tin's death grip, clutching his palms in a silent pain. Worried glances were exchanged once again by the peanut gallery, and Tin-Tin grew increasingly wary of her audience.

On cue, the three children burst into the room, arms wide open as they scattered towards the shocked lady. All three of them threw their tiny bodies onto her, only to be dragged back by Alan. "Boys! What did I say about tackling mommy?"

..._MOMMY!?_

The word never got a chance to sink in before the voices of her 'children' filled her ears.

"Mommy, we missed you!"

"We got really worried because you fell asleep outta nowhere."

"Wanna see the picture I drew of Dougie?"

"Mommy, Charlie said I looked like dog!"

"Did not!"  
  
"Did too times a bazillion!"  
  
"That's not a number!"

"Is too!"  
  
"MOMMY!!!!!"

Her jaw still on the floor, she looked up at Alan, who was equally surprised, only for different reasons. "Sweetie, are you okay?" he questioned, frowning deeply.

She couldn't find the words. This couldn't be happening; she definitely wasn't ready for this. But apparently, she has been ready all along, otherwise, how would she have agreed to have so many brats... how many were there? Those three, then the one in the crib, and one coming along...

Tin-Tin felt weak again. Five kids?! What had she been thinking? Clutching onto Alan's arm, she pulled herself up from the couch and ignored the bickering children, who seemed to have temporarily forgotten her existence as they disputed who was the bigger 'dum-dum.' Dazed and most definitely confused, she left the room without a word, her hand placed over her swollen belly in disbelief. She stumbled towards the nearest bathroom, leaving everyone behind just as confused.

The woman staring back at her in the mirror was not someone she recognized. Tin-Tin decided that her reflection was more aged, with the presence of worry wrinkles and dark circles rimming her once-lively eyes from the lack of sleep.

"Oh god. I'm... I'm old."

She couldn't believe the words that emerged from her mouth.

"And... fat."

Nightmares really did come true.

"I'm a mom."

She remembered the face of the baby in the crib. He looked like a Tracy baby, it was obvious. Now that she thought of it, he looked like...

"... ew, Alan."

It suddenly dawned on her.

"ALAN TRACY, I DESPISE YOU."

The scenery changed. Everything changed. Her voice echoed through the garage, and Alan looked up at the sudden outburst of his friend. Peering past a giant piece of machinery Brains warned him not to touch, he could see that Tin-Tin was no longer working on the blueprints she had buried herself in previously. Instead, she stood up from her seat, where she had sat stationary for almost an entire day, and stormed towards the clueless blonde.

"ALAN SHEPARD TRACY, YOUR EXISTANCE OFFENDS ME GREATLY," she spat bitterly, raising her hand and slapping him clear across the face. He didn't have enough time to recover from the hit when she began throwing many more open-handed slaps on him, not exactly caring where they landed just as long as it was on him. "Don't you ever go near me, or I will pull off your fingernails and feed them to you, Alan Shepard Tracy!"

When she felt sufficiently satisfied, Tin-Tin flipped her hair, did a smooth runway model turn on her heel, and with nose high in the air she strutted out of the garage. Alan stood there, obviously dumbfounded and wordless as to what had just passed.

"Uh, did Tin-Tin h-have another p-premonition?" Brains' voice called from behind some metal clutter.

Alan sighed deeply, shaking his head as she walked away. "Think so. Her imagination really runs away with her when she gets too sucked into her work. Last time, she went berserk on Scott because she pictured him selling her off to some tribe off in Ouagadougou." He stared blankly at the seat Tin-Tin had occupied not a few minutes ago. "Scott never really got over the fact that a girl gave him a black eye."

Clink. Clatter. Silence fell between the two of them in the garage, disrupted by the occasional tool colliding with metal on Brains' part. "I wonder what she saw," Alan mused out loud, scratching his head.

Brains laughed quietly. "I-I think it's best if we d-don't know."


End file.
